411 Draft Prep Central

Hey guys,

Let’s call this the hub of all things draft prep related. Here’s where you’ll find all the resources you need as your drafts draw near. I’ll be updating this list regularly as new content becomes available. Stay tuned!

all of these guys I kinda see going late but not sure what their worth is going to be in terms of round. J.J. might not go as late as the others and I’m wondering if hes worth maybe a 10th round or so pick or if its just too much of a risk.

I’m pretty sure that people will draft JJ earlier than I’m comfortable with, so I can’t really see myself owning him in any league. It’s been one injury after another with this guy. Personally, I’d let someone else take him in the 10th round. And don’t be surprised if he’s off the board even before then.

Holland and Erv are the two guys I like the most out of the rest of the group.

Zach – could you give your rankings for these utility outfielders. Interested in your opinion. Hunter, A Jackson, Fowler, Bourjos, Boesch, Francouer, Maybin, and de Aza. Leaning towards Bourjos, Francouer, and de Aza but not sure. Thanks

My top 3 would actually be Boesch, Jackson and Maybin. I like Bourjos but the Angels have so many OF options that there’s always the threat of lost ABs should he struggle mightily at the plate. I’m not a Frenchy fan. He’s just too inconsistent and was way over his head last year in the AVG department. I think Boesch could have a nice season hitting in a lineup with Miggy and Prince and if Jackson even makes modest improvement in cutting down the strikeouts, he could be a draft day bargain. I see Maybin improving his HR total to at least the mid teens.

keeper auction 12 team mixed league. with tulo, pedroia and kinsler as free agents (a. carbrera, zobrist, then altuve follow in ranking) in a thin MI market, what would you estimate as their auction values ($265 budget)?

Tough to say but in an auction keeper I’d use their listed price on whichever site you choose as a base and prepare to spend a few dollars more due to inflation. There’s an exact method of calculating inflation but I tend to just trust my gut depending on how the draft is going while factoring in position scarcity. Auctions are so unpredictable that I always leave some wiggle room when it comes to laying out my budget.

I’d go Kimbrel, Rivera, Lawrie, Sandoval with Utley a close fifth behind Pablo (I just don’t trust Utley’s health). Kimbrel and Rivera are the top 2 closers in the game on my rankings, so to own both of them gives you a huge advantage. You’ll probably be able to get Gardner back.

Zach – Would you keep any of these bubble guys on a 9 team NL only 4×4? I could keep up to 2 – but don’t have to since I already have my core 12 keepers. Heyward $26, Ethier $23, Ruben Tejada $1, Carlos Ruiz $10, or Randal Delgado $1?

411. I understand the 60% or 70% on offense and 30-40 on pitching, but with a lot of draft calculators let you custom 5% on Catching or 6% or 7% etc and at every position. So based on position scarcity I was wanting more detail % per position.
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Sure the auction can change if a player was kept I didn’t count on or if someone pays $65 for Kinsler. But I would figure, you would have a more custom amounts per position then just 70% on all offense.

The truth is that there really isn’t a per position rule. Build your team how you want to and plan your budget more around players you like with the overall objective of drafting a balanced roster that addresses all the categories. I never compartmentalize my budget by position.

Hosmer and Andrus would be my top 2 (I’d actually take either of them over Gallardo). Definitely Andrus over Castro. I do like Bumgarner as a strong #2 SP who is being undervalued, but Hosmer and Andrus are simply the two most valuable players of that group.

I take it there are salaries involved here? If so, probably yes. But if not, I don’t think I’d do it. In order to comfortably make this trade, I would need to be fully convinced that Harper will turn out to be a better player than Pence, which I really can’t say for certain, despite all the fanfare. And then on top of this you’re giving up Moustakas, who not so long ago was considered a top-5 hitting prospect. I wouldn’t let his struggles last year cloud my long-term opinion of him. This might be the last year you’ll be able to draft him at a dirt cheap price.

Zach – thanks for previous answer. One more for you. Would really like M Young and Morse for picks 32 and 49 but J Hamilton will probably be available at 32. Think Hamilton is worth risking one of the other two at 32? He is in contract year plus I think he’ll be out to prove something. Thanks for your input.

I’m not a big Hamilton fan as his constant injuries are so frustrating to deal with. But if it’s strictly a matter of choosing between him, Young and Morse, I’d pick Hamilton every time. After all, the guy won an MVP a couple years ago!

Hey 411,
10 team mixed keeper league, 5 keepers over $5 and 8 keepers under $5 are allowed for 5 years.
Is it a smart strategy keeping three players that will take up 1/3 of my auction draft dollars?($93 out of $270)
Those three players are Halladay-$29, Tulo-$37, and Prince-$27. Would you maybe trade one of the three for a decent 10-$20 pitcher and maybe a young $1-$5 player? Expand the draft dollars a bit.
My two other $5 and over keepers are Bourn-$9 and C. Santana-$12.

I’d look into trading Halladay. As great as he is, he isn’t getting any younger, and you should be able to fetch a nice return for him. He makes for an attractive trade chip as his price tag isn’t insanely high.

411 crew
Hope you all had a great offseason and great to get the ball rolling again! First Q of the year: 13 team 7×7 Vanilla, head to head, 6 keepers (no top 2 rounds from previous year). Thinking to keep : Jacoby-pick 6, A.McCutchen-p5, Stanton-p24, Des Jennings-p23, J.Shields-p13, D.Ackley-p22.
Other favourable options: Altuve-p26, Crawford-p7, T.Hudson-p11, Salvador Perez-p27.
Thinking with my 4 OF positions filled before the draft, I will naturally head for the best players available in the 1st 3 rounds for infielders. Am I leaning to SS and 2ND if I can grab one of the best top two ranking hitters. I have the final pick in the first round and first pick in the second so I will be stuck waiting for 24 picks before I get another go at those two positions. I was thinking to to lean on my #1 lock closer on pick one in the 4th round.

Thanks again for all the help last year…flag is flying in the wind as we speak!

There was a trade that got vetoed in my 20 team league. The two guys trading are so upest they threating to veto all trades no matter what. I am not a part of this trade nor did I vote on it.(If I did vote it would of been no, BTW) Do you agree with what happened?

(The trade) Josh Hamilton and Bud Norris for Trevor Chaill and Willie Bloomquest

I don’t like it at all but I couldn’t bring myself to veto it. A terrible trade but I don’t think there was any collusion involved and the fact that both guys are upset means it wasn’t a situation where one owner tricked the other into making the deal.

Im in a 12 team h2h dynasty league and I was wondering which of these pitchers would be the best pickup: Jameson Taillon, Trevor Bauer, Gerrit Cole, Jacob Turner, Danny Hultzen, Tyler Skaggs, James Paxton, or Drew Pomeranz. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have a question – hopefully someone can answer this. I joined a public league, list draft. I received an email with the draft results on 2/28. I was happy with the results. This morning I received a second email with draft results – with a completely different team. Why would this happen? I thought once a draft was complete, it was final. Help!

I am in a 12 team h2h league. We get 3 keepers, 2 hitting, 1 pitching. Mine are D. Wright, B. McCann, Kershaw. I was offered another teams keepers for the first 3 rounds of my draft. That would be rounds 4-6. The thing is I have the first pick and the best guy out there is CarGo. Do I give up the CarGo type keeper and my late 2nd round, early 3rd round for I. Kinsler, M. Texiera, and S. Strasburg? The manager basically wants to start over with fresh keepers.
So basically, do you see Wright, McCann, Kershaw, Kinsler, Tex, Strasburg all going in the first 6 rounds? Thanks.

Yeah, I’d make that trade. Personally, I wouldn’t draft Strasburg as high as the 6th round this year but there’s little doubt in my mind that someone will do just that, and there’s a decent chance he earns 6th round value this year and a great chance he’ll earn it down the road.

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